Welcome to Wabash College’s blog about literature and theory! Prof. Agata Szczeszak-Brewer’s Literary and Cultural Theory students explore the purpose of literature, learn about different critical approaches to literature, use these theories to construct arguments about texts, and develop an awareness of their cultural resources.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Public Poetry

Cathal O Searcaigh's poetry acts as a form of fulfillment and rebellion to the heteronormative status quo around him. I liken his work to the public homosexual kiss because the act in itself (enacting the passion of lips or words) is a perfectly normal expression of “normal” emotion. The act is ordinary, but the homosexual twist projects it into the public sphere as an irregularity. It thus pushes and simultaneously redefines the boundaries of society. This is queer poetry, and it is linked to the political world.

Poetry is a widely accepted and emotional practice that only humans can perform. It is a unique and passionate form of communication and reflects society. By turning this human art form into homosexual passion in his poem “Dear Dark-Haired Love” O Searcaigh directly challenges homophobic members of the public by asserting his own passion as human. Queer poetry becomes human poetry, and the barriers of societal norms take a heavy blow.